Publications

05 Jul 2006
Working Paper Summaries

Information Dispersion and Auction Prices

Keywords: by Pai-Ling Yin; Technology; Web Services

August 2013 (Revised August 2014)
Case

Catalina In the Digital Age

By: Robert J. Dolan and Uma R. Karmarkar

Catalina in the Digital Age considers how a company with a dominant market position should evolve its established product lines given the rise of novel digital technologies. Since its founding in 1983, Catalina had enjoyed a distinct position in the world of consumer... View Details

Keywords: Big Data; Digital Technologies; Marketing; Customer Relationship Management; Consumer Behavior; Analytics and Data Science

October 2021 (Revised December 2021)
Case

PhonePe: Democratizing Payments in India

By: Michael Chu and Rachna Tahilyani

The co-founders of PhonePe, India’s leading digital payment platform are considering pursuing various growth opportunities in a huge country just entering the digital age. In a highly competitive industry, the founders are keenly aware that making the right choices is... View Details

Keywords: Digital Platform; Digital Banking; Business Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Decision Choices and Conditions; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Digital Platforms; Financial Services Industry; Asia; India

June 2012
Class Lecture

Why You're Not Buying Venezuelan Chocolate: The Provenance Paradox

By: Rohit Deshpandé

A product's country of origin establishes its authenticity. This is the provenance paradox. Consumers associate certain geographies with the best products: French wine, Italian sports cars, Swiss watches. Competing products from other countries - especially developing... View Details

Keywords: Global Business; Branding; Strategic Planning; Strategic Positioning; Emergent Countries; Consumer Perception; Developing Markets; Brands and Branding; Geographic Location; Globalized Markets and Industries; Perception; Emerging Markets; Product Positioning; Global Strategy; Marketing Strategy; Food and Beverage Industry; Venezuela

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April 2010 (Revised October 2010)
Case

Vale: Global Expansion in the Challenging World of Mining

By: Tarun Khanna, Aldo Musacchio and Ricardo Reisen de Pinho

In 2009 the management of Vale, a Brazilian diversified mining company and the largest iron ore producer in the world, was under pressure from at least two fronts. First, the emergence of China as the most important consumer of iron ore in the last few years had... View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Investment; Global Strategy; Risk Management; Market Entry and Exit; Business and Government Relations; Competitive Strategy; Mining Industry; Brazil

May 2004 (Revised June 2004)
Case

SchmidtCo (A)

John Schmidt's project to convert the information system of his auto parts distribution business is in real trouble, putting his company at risk. He must decide what his decision problem is and set appropriate objectives as well as create a good set of alternatives... View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Risk Management; Negotiation; Information Technology; Decision Making; Distribution Industry; Distribution Industry

April 2003 (Revised October 2004)
Case

Novartis: The Challenge of Success (B)

By: Sandra J. Sucher and Stacy McManus

When Dr. Daniel Vasella learned of the early Phase 1 trial results, he immediately decided what course of action Novartis would take. Students will be able to examine and assess the concrete steps, and the rationale behind them, that Novartis took in response to this... View Details

Keywords: Decision Making; Moral Sensibility; Innovation and Invention; Distribution; Product Development; Production; Problems and Challenges; Research and Development; Biotechnology Industry; Biotechnology Industry

July 2013 (Revised October 2014)
Case

Value Retail: Opportunities for European Expansion

By: Arthur I Segel

Scott Malkin, CEO of Value Retail, a developer and operator of European outlet villages serving luxury brands, is planning on developing a 18,503 m2 open-air outlet village to be built 98 kilometers south of Milan on land he was about to acquire for 7.26 million lira.... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Investment; Risk and Uncertainty; Expansion; Retail Industry; Milan

June 2022
Case

Business Implications from Regulating Carbon Emissions in the EU

By: George Serafeim and Benjamin Maletta

In the beginning of the 21st century, the European Union (the EU) had led the global fight against climate change with a wide array of policy measures. The EU’s primary approach to climate policy had been taxation via the European Union Emissions Trading System (EU... View Details

Keywords: Regulation; Carbon Emissions; Trade; Sustainability; Decarbonization; Performance; Climate Change; Analysis; Strategy; Taxation; Policy; Environmental Regulation; Industry Structures; European Union

30 Mar 2015
Research & Ideas

Managing the Family Business: Preparing to Sell

companies, and those that do sell generally part with them very reluctantly, given all that selling represents. We sympathize with a family's emotional attachment to its company. But given how fast industries are changing and other... View Details

Keywords: by Jonathan Pellegrin; Food & Beverage; Retail

October 2009
Article

Managing Risk in the New World

By: Robert S. Kaplan, Anette Mikes, Robert Simons, Peter Tufano and Michael Hofmann Jr.

Five experts gathered recently to discuss the future of enterprise risk management: Kaplan, the Baker Foundation Professor at Harvard Business School, who with his colleague David Norton developed the balanced scorecard; Mikes, an assistant professor at HBS who studies... View Details

Keywords: Forecasting and Prediction; Financial Crisis; Capital Structure; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Risk Management

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02 Sep 2008
Research & Ideas

Indulgence vs. Regret: Investing in Future Memories

We all know the moral of Aesop's fable about the industrious ant and the fun-loving grasshopper: Work now and save for the future, or else regret the consequences. And who hasn't been confronted with a similar dilemma? You know you should... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna

January 2025 (Revised June 2025)
Case

U.S. Steel: Proposed Acquisition by Nippon Steel

By: Willy Shih

The case setting is the proposed acquisition of U.S. Steel by Nippon Steel, which elicited a great deal of controversy. The purpose of the case is to look at the history of the American steel industry since World War II and understand how the steel minimill operators... View Details

Keywords: Disruptive Innovation; Mergers and Acquisitions; Factories, Labs, and Plants; Business History; Technological Innovation; Business Strategy; Manufacturing Industry; Manufacturing Industry; United States

15 Feb 2000
Research & Ideas

The Right Connections

From genome research to e-commerce, new ventures are popping up everywhere, competing for the cash needed to turn them into successful enterprises. But when vying against others in industries where high uncertainty, long development... View Details

Keywords: by Judith A. Ross

18 Apr 2005
Research & Ideas

Selling Luxury to Everyone

part of that growth. "It's at that 'not-too-expensive, but it's not cheap' really effective price point," she said. Langer recalled an old industry saw to the effect that "in a recession, a really View Details

Keywords: by Julie Jette; Consumer Products

July 2006
Background Note

Out of Frame: The Coming Digital Disruption of Hollywood

By: Stephen P. Bradley, Brian DeLacey and Reed Martin

The record opening of the Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, starring Johnny Depp, had finally provided the industry with incontrovertible proof that it was still possible to draw massive audiences to movie theaters. Grossing $136 million during its opening... View Details

Keywords: Disruption; Internet and the Web; Technology Adoption; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Film Entertainment; Revenue; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; United States

April 2018 (Revised July 2018)
Case

Maersk: Betting on Blockchain

By: Rajiv Lal and Scott Johnson

In March 2018, international shipping giant Maersk is getting ready to debut a trade digitization platform. Maersk hopes the platform will help streamline global trade since shipping goods internationally is an extraordinarily complicated and inefficient process.... View Details

Keywords: Maersk; IBM; Blockchain; Shipping; Shipping Line; Trade; Bitcoin; Digitization; Container Shipping; Joint Ventures; Ship Transportation; Transportation Networks; Digital Platforms; Information Technology; Technology Adoption; Applications and Software; Shipping Industry; Shipping Industry